Economic Geography and Cluster Policy, With Special Reference to Kazakhstan

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian Economies became independent and autonomous countries. Like most of the transition economies, they have experienced considerable difficulties in their economic development in moving from a centrally planned system to a market economy. Over the first ten years of transition there was a significant economic dislocation, with very low or even negative growth rates. However, at the beginning of the 2000s, their fortunes changed as they started experiencing a rapid growth path. Kazakhstan is an excellent example of this. Consequently, a major issue is to understand what are the best economic policies to ensure that these rapid rates of growth are maintained. This paper considers the implications of economic geography, especially the role of space, distance, and density, and of cluster policies for the development path of these countries, with special reference to Kazakhstan. It discusses whether or not it is optimal to implement a resource-based cluster development strategy for these countries and concludes considering other possible development strategies.